The Highways Agency has posted the contract notice for its Area 3 asset support contract.

The contract is estimated to be worth £100m to £140m. It will run for five years from September 2013, with the scope to extend by up to a further three years.

Area 3 is the second largest Highways Agency area, covering 1,242km of carriageway and includes some of the oldest and most heavily used roads in the country. The following motorways and trunk roads in Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire are managed by Area 3:

M27, M271 (Total length)

M275 (From A27/M27 to Tipner Lane Bridge)

A27 (A27 from Hilsea to the A259 Warblington)

A31 (From Bere Regis to J1 M27 Cadnam)

M3 (From J2 Thorpe to J14 Chilworth)

A3, A3 (M) (From Ockham to Horndean)

A303 (From M3 J8 to A338 Parkhouse Cross)

M4 (From J5 Slough to J15 Swindon)

A404 (From A404(M) J9b to M40 Handy Cross)

A404(M) (Total length)

A34 (From M3 J9 to M40 J9 Wendlebury)

A308M (Total length)

EnterpriseMouchel is currently the Area 3 managing agent contractor (MAC), under a £41m a year contract that started in September 2008.

Nationally, MACs are being replaced by asset support contracts (ASCs) to form the basis of the delivery of maintenance and improvement services for most parts of England's motorway and trunk road network.